Meltdown weather, no AC, and a 1/3 of the house covered in plastic - it was almost a dare to stay inside. So we didn't. We lived in each other's pool, day camped at the beach, moved the dining rooms outside, and ate Mexican food at 9:30pm with candles on, while praying for the thunder heads to break.

I was officially home eight days in the month of February. Tradeshows, road travels, and a few last minute appointments caused more time in the airports than at home - not something I would like to repeat. First official weekend home and all I cared about was spending it with Captain.

Windy weather brought in a little rain and started an impromptu kite flying session as the clouds rolled in only to sprinkle enough for an excuse to nap before skateboarding and late afternoon pizza.

There was no working, little cleaning, none of the usual things I spend my weekends on. Just Captain and me. Sitting in his room doing Spiderman puzzles, not caring that the dishes were dirty or my emails. I don't do that enough. Everything is always moving, there is always more and more things to do. Just stopping to enjoy a puzzle, on the floor looking around at the room that is now his boy room, was his nursery, will be his pre-teen and teen dungeon, being in a moment not thinking of anything or anyone else but him and me; I can't wait to do that again next weekend, and the weekend after...and the weekend after.

Friday: Lemonade stand making made from an old fence that ended in a outdoor pizza party and discussion of all the things we could sell - from lemonade and home made cookies to the culdesac egg cache (we do have 10 chickens between us). Personally, Penny's eggs are like gold to me, but everyone objected when I wanted to set the price at $5.00 per egg.

Saturday: The boys spent all day down at Crystal Cove, giving me a day to pay bills, organize my closet while catching up on Southern Charm, and cleaning the house until Nicole came over with wine and we had an afternoon backyard cocktail hour. Boys came back for a hot minute only to get ready for BMX racing so I decided to take a nap and then Nicole and I picked the wine drinking back up watching the sun go down while hitting balls at the driving range and eating the rest of the pizza from last night.

Sunday: All day garage cleaning with an after swim and celebration of finding the pool toy pump which meant welcoming the tangerine slice to the pool party.

Monday: The Fourth. Bloody mary morning, pool party and grilled hamburgers in the afternoon. Wine, blankets on the grass, ladder toss, corn hole, taco cart and hot dogs in the evening with friends and family, sipping our drinks and waiting for night to fall and the fireworks to start.

A bit of a head cold rendered me useless for about 24 hours. So while I napped and slowly got the house and our lives ready for the week, Nate took Captain and Maverick to Sheep Hills for the afternoon. Waking up to filthy boys telling me how many times they crashed while eating Great Mex and watching motorcycle racing on TV could not have made me happier.

Well shit. I'm a month late on this post. So here's a month-late recap to NYE 2015 :)

A fine piece of meat, a bottle of Prisoner for the meal, and a bottle of Veuve to toast in the New Year. A backyard fire pit that was anything but mellow, and the family surrounding it cuddled up with HawleyTribe blankets and wine. Captain coughing from 8pm to 1am; Veuve staying corked as we worried about Captain, took multiple steam showers, and piled in the car at 1am for a drive to Hoag's emergency room, only to sleep in the parking lot since finally the poor bub fell asleep. Drove home and slept with him on the couch until 10am, when he woke up happy and normal. Cul-de-sac bike racing, pretending to play video games while watching a motorcycle race, and flirting with girls at the Back Bay.

Getting back into a routine after my month long stint of travel. Waking up, working out, Fin's first birthday party and the weekend haul to Trader Joe's to stock up on groceries. Nate escaped to go surf for a few hours where Captain and I migrated to the front yard where the cul-de-sac was up and about, starting an impromptu Slip N' Slide event in the Haack's backyard and tossing pumpkin buckets in anticipation of Halloween.